"Rookie Dylan Axelrod will make his first major-league start Wednesday, but the significance for the White Sox is as much about the starter he replaces, Jake Peavy.

After defying medical expectations on how quickly he'd return from surgery in July 2010 to reattach a torn lat muscle, a worn Peavy had to acquiesce to what his body and his doctors were telling him.

The healing process will take awhile longer.

''The decision's been made, and I think it's a good one,'' Peavy said. ''It has been a grind. It really doesn't appear we have a chance to catch Detroit, and rather than just grind out a couple of starts — we didn't feel like we were risking injury, but we'd just call it a season being 100-plus innings into it.

''The grind of getting me out there, it was tough basically the second half of the season.'' "